


Bruising

by DrummerFromDownUnder



Category: Nowhere Boys (TV)
Genre: M/M, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-31
Updated: 2019-07-31
Packaged: 2020-07-27 22:34:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,230
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20053612
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrummerFromDownUnder/pseuds/DrummerFromDownUnder
Summary: Once Andy had put two and two together, it was pretty easy to work out that his soulmate was on the school football team. All he had to do was work out which player it was. That was the hard part.Andy was the biggest nerd at Bremin High. Always had been, always would be. So attempting to interact with all the boys on the footy team to deduce who his soulmate was while trying not to get pummeled to death was going to be a bit of a challenge.





	Bruising

Andy was a very cautious and observant kid. He had to be; his family were quite overprotective of him which meant that a lot of the adventures he dreamt up and the imaginary games he wanted to play when he was a little kid would have to wait until he could go out into the world on his own. Or with his soulmate, who seemed to get hurt almost every day. Since he started high school, Andy had been getting bruises on his hands and even more all over his body whenever there was anything to do with footy at school.

Once Andy had put two and two together, it was pretty easy to work out that his soulmate was on the school football team. All he had to do was work out which player it was. _That_ was the hard part.

Andy was the biggest nerd at Bremin High. Always had been, always would be. So attempting to interact with all the boys on the footy team to deduce who his soulmate was while trying _not_ to get pummeled to death was going to be a _bit_ of a challenge.

He started off with a few kids on the team who he shared some classes with that _weren’t_ seen as the big players on campus, since they were a lot more approachable than some of the other boys on the team. Andy would take a deep breath, walk up to a player and asked a few questions, masking his want for answers as a survey he was doing for a health assignment. He would asked things like, _‘What to you do to train?’_, _‘How reckless do you get in the field?’_ and _‘How often do injuries occur?’_ Then he would observe the boy in question for a few days longer before moving onto the next.

So far, no one had really matched up to when Andy would feel pain and how the bruises on his hands might occur. There were only three players left that he hadn’t interviewed yet. Trent, Dylan and Jake, the three biggest bullies Bremin had ever seen. And seeing as they _were_ bullies, it could very well explain how messed up Andy’s hands could get. So, yeah, Andy, for the first time in his life, was _really_ hoping that he was wrong.

-/-/-/-/-

“_Hey, Freakazoid!_ What’s up man, seems like you’ve been avoiding me!” Jake said loudly as he walked up to Felix before pushing the goth into the lockers behind him. “You _know_ I don’t like it when people avoid me. Hurts my feelings, ya know? And you wouldn’t wanna do that, now would ya, _Freak?_”

The goth grimaced in pain, having the lock holder part of the locker stab into the left side of his back. “Fuck off, Riles. Can’t you leave me alone for just _one_ day?”

Jake smirked. “Where’s the fun in that?” And with one final push, the jock moved on, walking over to his friend, Sam, who was rubbing at the left side of his back. “You alright, mate?”

Sam winced a bit, turning to his friend. “Yeah, my soulmate must’ve done some damage though.”

-/-/-/-/-

Andy’s research on both Trent and Dylan had to be put on hold for a while as the excursion to the Bremin Ranges had them sorted into different groups. Luckily yet unfortunately for Andy, he was put into the same group as Jake, along with two other boys, Sam and Felix. Andy decided to cease the moment and ask Jake questions.

“So, um, Jake... I was just wondering if I could ask you a few questions?” Andy asked as he trailed slightly behind the other boys.

The other three stopped and turned their attention to the shorter boy. Felix was looking at Andy like he wanted a death wish while both Sam and Jake just seemed confused.

Jake looked at Sam, who shrugged, then back to Andy. “Uh, why?”

Andy clung to his clipboard awkwardly. “You might have heard that I have been surveying your teammates for a health assignment? Maybe I could get your input?”

Jake rolled his eyes, sighing before turning away and continuing to walk. Realizing that nothing was happening, Jake stopped and looked behind him. “You asking me those questions or not, nerd?”

-/-/-/-/-

Andy didn’t seem to be getting much luck with Jake. The jock had answered pretty much the same as all the other players had before him.

“That’s all I need, thanks.” Andy said, slightly bummed out. Don’t get him wrong, Jake Riles scared the shit out of Andy at times, but Andy also had to admit that Jake was probably the most attractive boy on the team. He was allowed to have a _little_ hope.

“No problem, I guess.” Jake replied before being distracted by Trent and his group.

-/-/-/-/-

After Jake had finished complaining about the possibility of losing, Felix told the three that there was a shortcut which just ended up leading to a small but sizable cliff.

“Well, it _looked_ like a shortcut.” Felix said as he observed at the map once more.

The boys argued for a small amount of time until Felix began to slip off the cliff. The others attempted to hold onto him before they all fell down, landing to the ground below.

“Mother_fucker! _Ugh, why did that _hurt_ so much?” Sam asked as he began to sit up.

Felix looked at Sam, then up at the cliff, then back to the skater. “Oh, I _dunno_, maybe ‘cause we all just _fell down a cliff?_” He answered sarcastically, glancing down at his wrist.

Andy groaned from his spot on the ground, he managed to land on his arm. It wasn’t broken or anything, it just hurt like _hell._

Sam stood up, stretching his legs slightly as he looked up to where they were before. “Nah, you don’t _get_ it. I’ve fallen off of stuff _dozens_ of times, sometimes even higher than that,” He said, gesturing to the cliff. “and it’s _never_ hurt this bad before.”

Jake groaned as he stood up. “Will admit, that hurt _way_ more than a footy match.” He added, clutching onto his arm.

Sam sighed as he played around with his wrist before extending his arm out to Felix to help the goth up. “I just hope my soulmate’s okay.”

-/-/-/-/-

So, as it turns out, these boys were stuck together, as much as they didn’t want to be at first. But over time, they did start to get attached to one another.

While stuck in this weird world where they apparently didn’t exist, they found it best to either work together as a group or team up in pairs, with it usually ending up with Jake and Andy going one way and Felix and Sam going the other, leading to each of the boys beginning to gain feelings within the pairings which wouldn’t be so terrible if soulmates weren’t a thing.

-/-/-/-/-

“You don’t _get_ it, Jake! Yesterday, he looked at me and said that he’d get me home.” Sam said, pacing around in front of the jock. “Do you _realize_ how much I wanted to kiss him in that moment?”

Jake rested his face on his hand, somewhat amused but getting more and more bored as Sam rambled on. “Nah, I have no idea. Not like you’ve been going on about it for a good twenty minutes or so.” He replied in monotone.

Sam sighed as he sat on the ground, crossing his legs. “Dude, it’s just… I don’t wanna get my hopes up, ya know? I mean, what if he’s not my soulmate?” He continued as he began to fiddle with the grass around him.

Jake glanced over to where Andy was sitting with Felix and discussing magic together. “Yeah, I know what you mean…”

Sam followed Jake’s gaze and smirked. “Man, you’ve got it _bad_ for Brainy Dude, don’t you?”

Jake snapped his head back in Sam’s direction. “Wha- _no_…”

Sam raised an eyebrow.

“_…Fuck off_.”

Sam smiled, snickering a bit. “Dude, why don’t you just ask him?”

Jake crossed his arms. “To quote you just a minute ago; ‘What if he’s not my soulmate?’”

Sam winced a little. “Point taken.”

-/-/-/-/-

A few months had past and after going through the ups and downs of the alternative universe and the struggle of getting Andy back from Negative Space, the boys could finally relax and just hang out like normal kids. Well, as normal-_ish _as they possibly could be.

Jake and Sam where basically in the same situation as they were before, discussing feeling and the idea of soulmates while watching Andy and Felix having their own conversation, only this time, talking about Negative Space.

“Dude, I’m like, nighty-nine percent sure that Felix is my soulmate.” Sam said as he pushed up the sleeve of his jacket. “See? Felix told me he accidently burnt himself on Thursday night, which is when I felt _this_ happen.” He said as he showed Jake the mark on his arm.

Jake inspected the mark before looking over to where the other boys were. “So why don’t you just ask him? It’s _Felix_, he’s not going to be rude or anything if you’re wrong.”

“’Cause that’s kinda weird, ya know?” Sam began to but on a strange voice in a mocking tone. _‘Oh, hey Felix, I really like you, and I think we might be soulmates cause of some burn mark.’_”

“That’s how most people do it.” Jake said, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes. “What are you gonna do? Get his attention and intentionally hurt yourself?”

A smile crept up on Sam’s face.

Jake knew that smile. He fucking _hated_ that smile. “Sam… Sam, no, _don’t._”

Sam had already begun to run over in Felix’s and Andy’s direction.

“Sam,_ Samuel!_” Jake ran after the shorter boy.

“Hey Felix!” Sam yelled as he ran past both of the boys sitting on the grass. “Watch this!” Sam ran up to a tree and slammed his arm into the trunk of it.

Felix looked at Sam like he was insane. “Sam, what the fu- _Oww!_ Fuckin’ _hell!_” Felix gripped onto his arm in pain. “What the…” Felix looked over to the tree that Sam was now leaning against and holding his own arm, smiling like an idiot.

“It worked…” Sam sighed in relief. “…We’re soulmates.”

Felix glanced back at his arm before glaring at Sam. “And you couldn’t’ve just have _asked_ me if we could test that theory?!?”

Sam’s smile dropped. “So… you _don’t_ want to be soulmates?”

Felix sighed, standing up. “You’re a moron, ya know that? ‘Course I’m happy about it, just preferred if you went about it a different way.” He said with a slight smile. “We’re gonna go get some ice for our arms.” He said to Jake and Andy before turning his attention back to Sam. “And _we_ are gonna discuss all of this soulmate stuff.”

Sam smiled widely over at Jake before walking off with Felix.

“I told him not to do it, glad it all worked out though.” Jake said, sitting down on the ground.

Andy sat down beside him. “So, you and Sam have talked about soulmates and stuff?”

“Yeah, you never thought about it?” Jake asked.

Andy began to fiddle with his hands. “Yeah, I have. Uh, actually, you know that survey I did? Back on the excursion?”

Jake thought back for a moment. “…Yeah, you were surveying the whole team, right? For a health assignment?”

“I lied. I was asking all the players questions because I thought that one of them could be my soulmate.” Andy replied.

“Oh… Did… Did you ever figure it out?” Jake asked, pulling his knee up to his chest.

Andy shrugged. “Well, I didn’t get through the whole team. I still haven’t interviewed Trent _or_ Dylan.”

Jake sat up straighter. “You’re _not_ asking them!”

Andy glanced over at Jake. “Why not? I’m still pretty sure it’s someone on the team.”

“’Cause you’re _way_ too good for either of those boneheads, Andy!”

Andy sighed. “Anyway, I never got the chance to ask them since we went missing and then…” He gestured to the piece of fabric wrapped around his wrist. “Ya know…”

Jake stared at the fabric before sighing. “Yeah… Yeah, I know.” Jake took in the environment around them, all the trees and rocks and grass with a creek a little way down from where they were. “I missed you, ya know?” Jake let out a slightly shaky breath. “A lot.”

Andy smiled. “Yeah, I missed you too.” He replied, punching Jake in the arm.

“Oww… Jeez, Andy, you can actually swing a bit of a punch!” Jake said, rubbing his shoulder.

“That’s due to having a sibling…” Andy began to trail off before reaching for his shoulder. “Hey, Jake? Can you do me a favour?”

Jake looked at the shorter boy, slightly concerned about the sudden change in mood. “…Yeah, mate. ‘Course.”

“Punch me in the arm.”

Jake’s eyes widened. “Andy, wha-“

Andy screwed his eyes shut. “Just… do it.”

Jake hesitated. “…Okay.” He punched the water elemental, light enough that it wouldn’t hurt too bad, but strong enough that there would be pain. “Why’d you ask me to…” Jake reached over to his right arm, _right_ where he had _just hit Andy_. “Holy shit… Holy _shit!_”

Andy smiled. “Yeah.”

Jake smiled right back. “…Yeah.”


End file.
